Every day there are increasing demands on project managers on the engagements they are managing…because everyone wants something. Project management can often feel like a people pleasing profession. Someone needs a decision quickly. This morning, the client needs a requirements change by tomorrow. A top executive needs a project status update by Friday. And your CFO needs a new budget forecast on your largest project by end of day today. Does any of this sound familiar? If not, you are one of the lucky ones. But we got into this position knowing this is how it would be…most of us did anyway. And there is no question that resource management on the projects that we manage can be one of the biggest sources of headaches that we encounter on each engagement. Everyone wants to know when you can free up a certain resource so that they can have that person for their project or so that their direct supervisor can have them back for a 3-week effort in between your project phases.